Testimony of Ms. Dana Schulze Acting Director, Office of Aviation Safety
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Testimony of Ms. Dana Schulze Acting Director, Office of Aviation Safety National Transportation Safety Board Before the Subcommittee on Aviation Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure United States House of Representatives — On — Status of Aviation Safety — Washington, DC • July 17, 2019 An Independent Federal Agency Good morning, Chairman Larsen, Ranking Member Graves, and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to testify before you today. I am the Acting Director of the Office of Aviation Safety within the NTSB. The NTSB is an independent federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in other modes of transportation – highway, rail, marine, and pipeline. We determine the probable cause of the accidents we investigate, and we issue safety recommendations aimed at preventing future accidents. In addition, we conduct special transportation safety studies and special investigations and coordinate the resources of the federal government and other organizations to assist victims and their family members who have been impacted by major transportation disasters. The NTSB is not a regulatory agency – we do not promulgate operating standards nor do we certificate organizations and individuals. The goal of our work is to foster safety improvements, through formal and informal safety recommendations, for the traveling public. We investigate all civil domestic air carrier, commuter, and air taxi accidents; general aviation accidents; and certain public-use aircraft accidents, amounting to approximately 1,400 investigations of accidents and incidents annually. We also participate in investigations of airline accidents and incidents in foreign countries that involve US carriers, US-manufactured or - designed equipment, or US-registered aircraft. I would like to thank the committee for being a continued partner in safety. Last year, you addressed multiple NTSB safety recommendations in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. Based on our investigations, the NTSB recommended applying second-class medical requirements to commercial balloon operators, requiring all rotorcraft to meet certain minimum crashworthiness requirements to protect fuel systems, and sufficiently marking and maintaining in a database all meteorological evaluation towers.1 When Congress passed the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 you required the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to close these safety gaps.2 This testimony will address the state of aviation safety from the NTSB’s perspective and is based on our investigations. It will include a description of safety issues we have identified and recommendations we have made, and will conclude with a description of the work we are doing with emerging transportation technologies in aviation. For the last decade, the US aviation system has experienced a record level of safety, and the number of US-registered civil aviation accidents has declined overall.3 Deaths associated with US civil aviation accidents decreased from 539 in 2009 to preliminarily 401 in 2018. Nearly 92 percent of aviation fatalities in 2018 occurred in general aviation and non-commercial accidents, with the remainder primarily in Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 135 operations, which include charters, air taxis, and air medical services flights. Until 2018, there had been no passenger fatalities as a result of accidents involving US air carriers operating under the provisions 1 National Transportation Safety Board, Safety Recommendations A-17-034, A-15-012, A-13-016, and A-13-017. 2 Public Law 115-254. 3 National Transportation Safety Board, 2017 preliminary aviation statistics. Accident data for calendar year 2018 are still being validated and have not yet been released. 1 of 14 CFR Part 121 since the crash of Colgan Air flight 3407 in 2009.4 This unprecedented period of safety came to an end on April 17, 2018, when the Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 accident involving an uncontained engine failure resulted in a first passenger.5 Over the last several decades, significant advances in technology, important legislative and regulatory changes, and more comprehensive crew training have contributed to the current level of aviation safety. However, we continue to see accidents and incidents that remind us of the need to be ever vigilant. On February 4, 2019, we announced our Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements for 2019–2020.6 This list identifies 10 focus areas for transportation safety improvements based on issues identified through our investigations. Many of the issues on the Most Wanted List address multimodal challenges for improving safety, including many that have been identified in some of our aviation accident investigations, such as alcohol and other drug impairment, distraction, occupant protection, fatigue, medical fitness, and safe shipment of hazardous materials. Most Wanted List – Improve the Safety of Part 135 Flight Operations On the Most Wanted List, one issue area is specific to aviation: improving the safety of Part 135 flight operations. Regardless of the purpose of the flight or the type of aircraft, all passenger-carrying flights should be safe. However, currently, air medical service, air taxi, charter, and on-demand operators are not required to meet some of the same safety requirements that have proven effective at enhancing the safety of commercial airline operations. On March 12, 2019, the NTSB issued three new safety recommendations and reiterated six previous safety recommendations to the FAA as a result of the investigation of an accident that occurred on May 15, 2017, in Teterboro, New Jersey.7 In this accident, a Learjet 35A, operated by a Part 135 operator, Trans-Pacific Air Charter, departed controlled flight while on a circling approach to Teterboro Airport and impacted a commercial building and parking lot. The pilot-in-command and the second-in-command died; there were no passengers on the aircraft and no one on the ground was injured. While the aircraft was operating as a Part 91 positioning flight at the time of the accident, the accident raised concerns about the safety of Part 135 operations and the need for effective flight data monitoring (FDM) programs, safety management systems (SMS), procedures to identify pilots who do not comply with standard operating procedures, programs to address pilots with performance deficiencies, and the need for enhanced guidance for crew resource management training and leadership training for upgrading captains. 4 National Transportation Safety Board, Loss of Control on Approach, Colgan Air, Inc., Operating as Continental Connection Flight 3407, Bombardier DHC 8 400, N200WQ, Rpt. No. AAR-10/01 (Washington, DC: NTSB, 2012). In 2013, there were two fatal accidents involving nonscheduled cargo flights operating under Part 121—National Air Cargo crash after takeoff at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, and United Parcel Service flight 1354 crash during approach in Birmingham, Alabama. 5 The Southwest Airlines flight 1380 investigation is ongoing. An investigative hearing was conducted on November 14, 2018. 6 National Transportation Safety Board, 2019–2020 Most Wanted List. 7 National Transportation Safety Board, Departure From Controlled Flight, Trans-Pacific Air Charter, LLC, Learjet 35A, N452DA, Teterboro, New Jersey (Abstract), Rpt. No. AAR-19/02 (Washington, DC: NTSB, 2019). 2 The safety issues identified in the Teterboro accident were not new; the NTSB had previously identified these issues and made recommendations to address FDM equipment and programs and SMS as a result of the investigation of the November 10, 2015, crash of Execuflight flight 1526 in Akron, Ohio.8 The recommendations were reiterated following the October 26, 2016, crash of Ravn Connect flight 3153 in Togiak, Alaska, and again following the Teterboro accident.9 Since completing the investigation in Teterboro, New Jersey and issuing safety recommendations, the NTSB has initiated another 13 investigations into Part 135 accidents and incidents, of which five were fatal crashes – including the May 13 midair collision between two aircraft on sightseeing flights in Ketchikan, Alaska.10 Further, there are cases of paying passengers aboard aircraft where the operation is exempt from Part 135, such as the June 21 crash of an Oahu Parachute Center skydiving flight in Mokuleia, Hawaii, where all 10 passengers and one crewmember were fatally injured, and the March 11, 2018, crash of a FlyNYON sightseeing flight in New York City where five passengers were fatally injured. Both flights were operating under Part 91. A list of the safety recommendations we have made regarding Part 135 operations is appended to this testimony. Implementation of these and other recommendations could prevent or mitigate many of the Part 135 crashes that the NTSB investigates, and that is why “Improve the Safety of Part 135 Aircraft Operations” is included on the Most Wanted List. Most Wanted List – Reduce Fatigue-Related Accidents Fatigue is a pervasive problem in transportation that degrades a person’s ability to stay awake, alert, and attentive to the demands of safely controlling a vehicle, vessel, aircraft, or train. By including “Reduce Fatigue-Related Accidents” on our Most Wanted List, we are calling for a comprehensive approach to combatting fatigue in transportation, focusing on research, education, and training; technology; sleep disorder treatment; hours-of-service